Ray Ventre Nonfiction Prize winners and finalists announced!

Guest judge Tyrese L. Coleman has selected the winner of our biennial Ray Ventre Nonfiction prize! The winner is Dan Sherrell for his essay “Hunters in the Snow.”

Coleman says of the winning essay: "‘Hunters in the Snow’ is one of the best essays I've read in a while. Personal yet universal, it addresses the question that many in our generation have to now consider: do I want to bring children into this world knowing what I know? And that knowledge, that The Problem of climate change exists, that the world is ultimately spiraling toward a collision course that is inevitable and yet uncertain, is not enough to halt our living, our carrying on, is so profound. This essay has so many layers but is written in a prose very easy to grasp, beautiful, simple, lovely. By the end, I was envious of this talent, excited to read more, sad about our earth, but hopeful for a sliver of happiness. This is magic."

Coleman selected two honorable mentions:

Katerina Ivanov, “Clay Girl Becomes Clay Woman”

Cassie Mannes Murray, “A Fixed Luminous Point”

And our finalists:  

Kelsey Camac and Dagmara Wojtanowicz, “Old Clocks”

May-lee Chai, “The Swarm”

Ashley Chambers, “Made Human”

Grace Prasad, “Scrabble, Mahjong, and Memory”

Anastasia Selby, “Inheritances”

Amy Wright, “The Appalachian Sublime”

Our next contests — the Waasnode Short Fiction Prize and the Neutrino Short-Short Prize — will open for submissions in February. Thanks to Tyrese Coleman for her thoughtful judging, to our short list of super-talented essayists, and to everybody who entered; keep an eye out for the contest issue in your mailboxes in the spring!